Buckeye softball coach Darlene Wiley coached her team to the state champhionship and is The Town Talk?s 2012 CENLA Sportswoman of the Year. Tia Owens-Powers/towens@thetowntalk.com

Written by

DEVILLE -- Darlene Wiley coached Buckeye High School to its first state championship in softball last spring, and that's an accomplishment worth celebrating.

What gives the achievement an even brighter glow is the way she guided her team on that journey.

Having led Buckeye to the Class 3A state semifinals in 2011, Wiley was expected to have a team that could make another run deep into the playoffs. One of her two star pitchers from 2011, all-state honoree Kelsea Wallace, with 15 wins and a 1.04 earned run average, was scheduled to return for her junior year as the team's ace. ...